Gen. Basbug to visit US

Chief of General Staff Gen. Ilker Basbug will visit the US over the weekend as the official guest of his US counterpart Gen. Michael Mullen. Basbug will also attend the 28th Annual Conference on US-Turkish Relations which is set to begin on Sunday.

Speaking at a conference entitled "Toward the Turkey of 2023 from the Global Financial and Economic Crisis," organized by the Forum Istanbul yesterday, Deputy Prime Minister and State Minister for the Economy Ali Babacan said, "Signs of recovery in the global economy have become more obvious recently but it is still too early to know whether these signs will be permanent." Stating that the world economy is passing through one of the hardest times it has ever seen, Babacan said, "The problems in international financial markets accompanied by a slowing global economy, sharp drops in demand and production, and contraction in liquidity are affecting Turkey's economy as well. This was unavoidable, considering the level of Turkey's integration with the global economy." But Babacan spoke very hopeful about Turkey's economic performance for the post-crisis period. “When all this mess is over, Turkey will be among the countries with the least amount of debt and the lowest ratio of debt over gross domestic product. Most probably, Turkey will be one of the ten most developed economies of the world by 2023," Babacan said. Touching on the government's efforts to cushion the impact of crisis on Turkey's economy, Babacan said all the relevant institutions are carefully watching the reflections of the global crisis on the Turkish economy, and added that the central bank and the government have not hesitated to take the necessary steps to alleviate the effects of crisis, whenever necessary. The government has launched numerous measures to boost production, employment and consumption and to ensure the continued operation of credit markets, he stressed. Former First Deputy Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) Anne Krueger, Kemal Dervis, the head of the Akbank international advisory board and the former head of the UN Development Program, and high-level economy officials and business figures also attended the meeting.